Too Rich

The last 2 days I was in Burlington, VT with some friends from camp. What a nice place to be. Every time I've been to Burlington, it has a great energy. While there, we toured the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory, www.benjerry.com as well as the Magic Hat Brewery www.magichat.net .

I must say that I was slightly disappointed with Magic Hat. After visiting the F.X. Matt Brewery in Utica this summer (thanks for the free admissions Kyle) the Magic Hat Brewery was just kinda wimpy in comparison. I mean, I recognize that bigger isn't better. But the tour consisted of a 10 minute video, followed by a stationary tour of the process to make the beer. Some highlights though were it seemed like at least 50% of the employees were hippies, as well as the tour was free with free samples following. Also, there were pictures of the employees playing beer pong on the walls. Fantastic.

Ben and Jerry's was good. What I would expect from 2 fat kids making ice cream. I also ate the the Three Tomatoes on Church Street. Excellent. Go there if your in Burlington. You will not be disappointed.

Something that is interesting that I noticed while in Vermont though was the lack of a real middle class. It seemed as though there were the Haves and the Have Nots. That is something that I am not used to. Growing up in a working family, where both parents have worked hard to give their kids a better life than they had. The Protestant work ethic that P.A.T. discussed recently in his blog comes to mind. I'm not saying that people in Vermont don't work hard. It just seems that there isn't a middle class apparent. But I feel that is the case with a lot more of New England.

My drive home in the rain was very relaxing. It made me realize I think I'm making the right decision to try and slow my life down right now to explore.

It has been interesting for me to try and get back into the swing of having news every day. I'm used to having news once a week maybe. I completely didn't follow Katrina, and when I got home today, realized the magnitude of how big it was. I need to give some blood. I'll look into it. If you wanna give blood, let me know.